artBLISS 2012

by Cindy on October 1, 2012

artBLISS 2012

This years retreat was WONDERFUL.  How do you capture all of the learning, bonding, sharing and laughing in words?  I may have found a solution:  by filling this blog post with all kinds of pictures, I hope you can feel for a few moments what it was like at artBLISS 2012.   For the many students who attended, and the instructors/ facilitators/authors – Jeanette and I thank you.

We all shared moments that won’t be forgotten – from reconnecting with old friends, meeting new friends, and learning many new skills to add to our toolbox of techniques.  We have had such great feedback from those that attended that this retreat was a nice, intimate size conducive to both bonding and feeling supported as a jewelry artist.  We do hope that if you were not able to attend, that you’ll think of joining us next year and that I’ll be posting your picture in a blog post just like this one….

Scenes from Kerry Bogert’s class, K.reating A.rt B.eads

Sandi making a stringer!

Frankie, Elisabeth and Dawn – all returning artBLISS attendees!

Julie Anne with her new lampwork beads

The Meet and Greet reception:  door prizes, appetizers, chatting with friends, shopping for art jewelry, meeting instructors and having books signed by several fantastic authors! whew – a lot to pack in to one evening!

Christine and Douglas Damm – hailing all the way from Vermont

Kerry shares her new book, Rustic Wrappings with Anne

Jeanette and I – happy to be your artBLISS cohosts for the 3rd year

Stacie Florer – so thrilled that she is amongst the great line up of instructors this year!

Sandi, Jenny and Jen

Romancing the Wrist by Christine Damm

Jenny, Terri and Carol

Ranch Hand Earrings with Stacie Florer

Susan and Stacie.

 I just have to say how great it was to meet Stacie myself ….after following her travels, stories, and jewelry designs for several years, and developing a great across-the-miles friendship.

Melissa, LeAnn and Michelle – now this is the perfect example of jewelry designers/bloggers meeting in person at artBLISS!  This group of ladies came from Maryland, North Carolina and New York!

The annual charm swap was coordinated by Dawn Gallop this year – just look at the beautiful handmade bags she created for each of the swap participants!  She is a paper artist extraordinaire!   To see a great blog post with pictures of all of the charms, see Patti’s post.

A quick picture with jewelry designer and author, Erin Siegel – before her macrame demo!

I love that several of the attendees bring their whole families when they travel to artBLISS.

 My husband and boys stopped by each day – here they are with Dawn’s boys!

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True Colors by Kerry Bogert

Patti working with sheet metal

Kerry and Anne

Anne’s sketch and bezel coming together

 Amy of Zoozii’s lampwork presses, sporting a beautiful vintage hat she found antiquing in Leesburg the day before.

Lori and Kelley did a phenomenal job organizing all of the beads for the Bead Destash Social.

Swapping beads!

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Snaptastic with Kerry Bogert

Amy, Kerry, Joann and Patricia

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Heavy Metal Beads with Stacie Florer

Jen, Kathleen, Bette (now what is she doing with those pliers??), Melissa and Sally

Tracy creating a metal bead

Nancy working at Stacie’s amazing station

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Macrame Flower bracelet with Erin Siegel

Kelley, Lori, Nancy, Erin and Jeanette

Erin and her wonderful MIL, Nancy

So excited to learn macrame techniques in Erin’s class!  This is my finished bracelet.

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Color Your World with Christine Damm

Kerry, Heather, Jenny and Christine.

I was really thrilled to finally take my first polymer clay class with mentor and friend, Christine Damm.  I have admired her work for years so it was just so great to see her in action in class, sharing her talent with such passion.  Below you will see the pendant I created – starting with an ivory clay base (Christine’s special blend!)…..using my own mold from a vintage floral button – loved learning how to do this in class….adding layers of texture and color ….. then the final piece colored with oil paint.

Presenting the graduating class – Color Your World

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Elemental Bracelet with Stacie Florer –

Here is a beautiful, finished bracelet by Dawn Gallop

Thank you for joining me in this artBLISS 2012 recount.

 We would love for you to join us in 2013.  If you’d like to read more experiences from this year’s retreat (and I hope you’ll be completely convinced you won’t want to miss the 2013 event), here are a few blog posts to visit by both attendees and instructors:

Soul to Substance

Pretty Things

Modern Nature Studio

 Kabs Concepts

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Erin Siegel Jewelry

Beads for Busy Gals

 

Photo by Kathleen Lange Klik

p.s.  Jeanette has named our artBLISS mascot (as the dress form was so dubbed), Eleanor.  About time she had a proper name!

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Crazy for the New England Coast

by Cindy on September 26, 2012

Hello friends!

Surprise!  No, not an artBLISS post although I AM in a post-artBLISS blissful state!  I’ll share pictures of the weekend’s big event in a few days.  But for now, I thought I’d share pictures from a few weeks ago. We went on a New England Road Trip, Round 2….no agenda, just drove up the coast and stopped in seaport towns.  The kind of trip I dream of really (except the constant, “are we there yet?” pleas from the back seat!).  You may remember my New England post from last year.  I hope this will continue to be a summer tradition for us.

We enjoyed Connecticut and found two places that were totally new to us. If you have kids, you may like these destinations as well.  First we stopped at the Pez Visitor’s Center/Museum in Orange, CT.   I’m sure you all know and love Pez.  You know those candies that come in all sorts of collectible and seasonal containers?  They’ve been around since 1927 and believe it or not, my guys have been casually collecting them for years.

Our next stop, The Dinosaur Place, was  perfect for my 3-year-old who is obsessed with dinosaurs and fossils.  He’s been telling strangers that he wants to be an archeologist when he grows up!  In fact, the other day he surprised me by asking ME what I wanted to be when I grew up.  I haven’t been asked this question in a long time!  I told him I wanted to be his Mommy.  He was pleased and said, “good, then you can be my archaeology assistant”.

Mystic, Connecticut was our next stop.  We’ve been here many times and its beauty draws me in without fail.

Newport, Rhode Island….we lived around the corner from this incredibly charming harbor town many years ago.  My Dad went through Officer Indoctrination School (OIS) here in the 60’s…. so did my brother before beginning his career as a Navy doctor.  Randy and I moved here after our tour in Monterey, CA back when he was still in the Navy.  So this is the special town where we decided to spend one of my son’s 8th birthday.

The birthday boy is the one wearing a button.  I wonder how long my guys are going to let me pin on a birthday button!

Back when I was in graduate school in Richmond studying social work, my husband proposed to me in Newport….right on the Cliff Walk.  Here’s a picture of a few of the many beautiful mansions that line the walk.

We continued our trek to Maine, our final destination.  We decided to veer off the beaten path and visit a town we spotted on the highway.  All it took was seeing the word historic in  “Historic Newburyport”.

There were countless opportunities to take pictures; as you can imagine I just went crazy.  The waterfront, buoys, ships and lighthouses….I had my camera out at all times!

We discovered Perfecto’s, a great bagel and muffin place in Kennebunkport, ME.  Years ago we fell in love with New York-style bagels when we had a big fresh bagel in Darien, CT.    We look for them now whever we’re in New England.  Of course, one cannot pass up a muffin like this:

If seeing such picturesque coastal towns wasn’t enough, Maine also has really great opportunities to go antiquing.  And of course you can bet I was quick to seek them out….  Rt.1 is a trail that you’ll want to travel if you get the chance to visit Maine and love antiques.  Just look at this line-up!  We found great destinations from southern Maine on up north of Portland.

We spent an afternoon in the harbor town of Camden, Maine.  The kids enjoyed looking for sea glass at Laite Memorial Beach Park.

 

We visited one of the most famous lighthouses in all of New England, and the oldest in Maine:   the Portland Head Light.  The views were breath-taking.  We took a family shot that just might have to be our Christmas card picture this year. 🙂

The rocky ledge runs far out into the sea
And on its outer point, some miles away,
The lighthouse lifts its massive masonry,
A pillar of fire by night, of cloud by day.
                                                      – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Lighthouse”

In our quest to see a few lighthouses, we came across Fort Popham,  a semi-circular fort made from granite for use in the Civil War.  Talk about a boy’s dream – they could run around, hide, and play in a real fort!

The grand finale on the trip home was a stop in NYC to catch a Broadway show.  We saw the Tony award-winning show, Peter and the Star Catchers.  This tale of Peter Pan was incredibly funny and entertaining – each one of my boys seemed to watch from the edge of their seats!

I think I would be quite content to live in New England part of the year… summers there and winters here.  Now that seems like the perfect arrangement to me.  Until then, I’ll be dreaming about next summer ….

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Autumn BAJ

by Cindy on September 6, 2012

Autumn is creeping in, I can’t deny it.  Today I actually saw leaves falling to the ground.  When I looked down, I couldn’t believe how many dead leaves were already covering the grass.  Three of my four kids started school this week.  And another sure sign of the changing seasons – the Autumn 2012 issue of Belle Armoire Jewelry is out!   This has got to be one of my favorite issues ever – I’m psyched to say that many friends have their work published in this one.  I enjoyed turning page after page.

I’m excited to have a project featured as well…a wire link bracelet.  You can create a wire base in any metal you chose – I used silver, brass, bronze and copper.  Once you connect your links, you’ll have a sturdy base to add all sorts of charms. You can keep your bracelet minimal with a few select charms, or pile on all sorts of antique buttons and beads as I did.

One of the featured artists in this issue is Stacie Florer who will be teaching in just a few short weeks at artBLISS.  If her earring project caught your eye, you’ll want to learn about metal jewelry fabrication with this fine instructor in person.  Her workshops are on the verge of being full though (one is already full), so you’ll want to sign up soon!  I can’t wait to see her jewelry in person, as well as the work of all of the instructors, at the Friday night Meet and Greet!

– Cindy

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